Friday, November 11, 2016

Stay Classy, Fight Back

In Highsec, there has been various Codes dealing with specific groups. There is one exception: the Neo-Code. With an emphasis on Anti-Ganking, it seeks to educate both gankers and miners. It's a new vision of Highsec, a fresh breeze with one main goal: a better Highsec.

Superstar and ganker Damien Oxytocin has recently joined the "dark" side. He's not only proud of slightly out-dated publications, but he also seems to have a hidden talent in numbers. What's more, he lacks an N-Code compliant Catalyst fit and a Ganking permit. Having renamed my Falcon to All Jams for Damien, I started following his scout from system to system in Minmatar space. I was too late for saving a Retriever that got ganked by Damien. The Retriever's pilot was TracerTK7 and when I saw the following conversation, I was actually quite glad that I hadn't saved him.

Image source: Damien's twitch stream

Since Damien was live streaming his ganking operation, the viewers could see this horrible reaction of the Retriever pilot. This is the type of miner that I and our Code seeks to educate and change.In the following hour, I kept following Damien's scout as closely as I can. Eventually, two Hulks were found in another Minmatar system named Hjorafold, a.k.a the introduction to how to pronounce Eyjafjnallajokull 2016. Damien's stream was not showing the scout's screen, so I had to find these Hulks as soon as possible, before he brings the Catalysts on them.

Unlike the angry, AFK, rude Retriever pilot seen earlier, these two Hulk pilots understood EVE: they had brought guns and friends. A Tengu and a Proteus were escorting the mining fleet: a cool example of Anti-ganking gameplay and exactly the type of scenery that I want to see more in Highsec. What was missing though, is a ship that could stop the Catalysts' DPS immediately, so I had to get there quickly.

Before Damien's arrival, I managed to position my Falcon nearby.

What an exciting D-Scan!

Damien brought two Catalysts: himself and "Pony Princess". As soon as the notorious Catalysts landed, roughly 20 seconds before CONCORD's arrival, our Falcon made short work of their targeting system. Activated by the Falcon's electronics officers Sevastus Eruka, Trotinette 'Mawles' Discoman and Jamlord Jammington, the magnetometric projection delivered the punishment to the heretics. Meanwhile, the Proteus was also striking at Damien's Catalyst with teh guns en masse.This is what the beautiful scenery looked like from the ganker's point of view (on twitch):

Image source: Damien's twitch stream

A sudden encounter emerged between the gankers and anti-gankers. For 20 seconds (CONCORD's absence), Highsec became great again!

Image source: Damien's twitch stream

Image source: Damien's twitch stream

During this short time, there was a unique, beautiful mixture of different sounds: busy strip miners, ECM waves, reverb of neutron blasters. Pure player interaction.

The gank was stopped and prevented successfully, the Hulk was saved.As you can see, CONCORD ruined the fun yet again. We real players had DPS & ECM. Who needs these stupid invincible NPC police monstrosity when we are there? I think it's safe to say that CONCORD was buffed too much over the course of years. Hell, even the slightest real player reaction is more enjoyable than a God-like NPC police reaction, especially in a player-driven universe like New Eden.

By the way, the excellent fit of "Pony Princess" is already competing for the title of Best Catalyst Fit of the Year.

Once again, the sudden fresh breeze of emergent Anti-ganking content brought smiles and fun for everybody in local. GFs and hearts echoed throughout the system. For years, some gankers have mistakenly (or purposely) accused us of being "ineffective", "toxic", "haters" "anti-fun" and "anti-content". Obviously, they confused us with angry miners like TracerTK7 or random butthurt carebears who sometimes talk trash and spew hatred in the Anti-ganking channel. (Such people rarely show up in that channel these days since the moderators have done a good job of muting and even banning those people).

The viewers of the stream were having a splendid time as well. Some viewers even thought that it was the Orca pilot who brought the jams. (To be honest, that sounds like a good idea.)Thanks to the exciting content created by both myself and Damien, the stream was illustrating a fun, dynamic EVE. A viewer who isn't familiar with EVE could get a very positive impression about the game. An exciting gameplay in a dangerous, breathing universe. Yes, in Highsec.

"Sandbox, players adapting, emergent gameplay - it's all there, in highsec. No more 'having to go to null after 2 years of skilling and grinding' for PVP."

-Herzog WolfhammerOf course, I sent a mail about the situation to the ganker, his scouts and a nearby Anti-ganker in the area. After all, I have my own Code to guide my actions.

I also received kind EVE mails from the Hulk pilot as well as the Proteus pilot. Both of them kindly expressed their gratitude and shared some details from their side. This was indeed a happy moment for me. Anti-ganking is not a completely thankless task after all.

For those who are interested, the ganker's point of view during this encounter can be watched at around 03:45:15 of this video: https://www.twitch.tv/diphoration/v/100107169Overall, it's quite remarkable to see the blatant difference between the two miner cases.

The first one: a vigilant, N-Code compliant miner who brings friends and guns:

The second one: an angry miner who does nothing about his safety and just insults:

Obviously, there's a lot of work to be done in Highsec. The heretic Damien needs to develop compliant fits and purchase a ganking permit whereas the angry TracerTK7 should realize that Highsec isn't 100% safe and should learn to avoid gankers or fight back. The wisdom of the Neo-Code will guide them, but I still wanted to contact this miner to give him some advices, which is another way of enforcing the N-Code.

I haven't received a reply yet. Maybe he's AFK, or maybe he's trying to reply while being AFK by using some supernatural wireless replying method used in AFKland, which doesn't work and exist.

By the way, Damien hasn't bought a permit yet. A day later (today), Damien's operation was jammed again, this time by Alister Rosenheim's Falcon. However, superstar Damien and "Pony Princess" were actually YOLOing onto a Skiff, knowing that they can't gank it, but jamming is a means of communication, so that's OK.To all angry miners out there: Be a doer, not a talker. Stay classy, fight back!---Image sources:www.twitch.tv / Damien's twitch streampersonal screenshot collection